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Trivia: Musical Terms

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. A solo concert with or without accompaniment.






2. A tempo having slow movement; restful at ease.






3. Vocal composition written for three or more solo parts - usually without instrumental accompaniment.






4. Harsh - discordant - and lack of harmony. Also a chord that sounds incomplete until it resolves itself on a harmonious chord.






5. Pertaining to the fugue - the overlapping of the same theme or motif by two or more voices a few beats apart.






6. To repeat a previous part of a composition generally after other music has been played.






7. Two or more voices or instruments playing the same note simultaneously.






8. A musical composition written solely to improve technique. Often performed for artistic interest.






9. A complex piece of music. Usually the first movement of the piece serving as the exposition - a development - or recapitulation.






10. A contrapuntal song written for at least three voices - usually without accompaniment.






11. A group of 4 instruments - two violins - a viola - and cello.






12. Movement in music where the characteristics are crisp and direct.






13. A group singing in unison.






14. A system of notation for stringed instruments. The notes are indicated by the finger positions.






15. In sheet music - an instruction to repeat the beginning of the piece before stopping on the final chord.






16. Three note chords consisting of a root - third - and fifth.






17. One of two or more parts in polyphonic music. Voice refers to instrumental parts as well as the singing voice.






18. An instrumental lament with praise for the dead.






19. A 19th century square dance written for 4 couples.






20. In sheet music - an instruction to repeat the beginning of the piece before stopping on the final chord.






21. A short light musical drama.






22. The interval between two notes. Two whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.






23. Initially an improvised cadence by a soloist; later becoming an elaborate and written out passage in an aria or concerto - featuring the skills of an instrumentalist or vocalist.






24. The interval between two notes. Three whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.






25. The structure of a piece of music.






26. The retuning of a stringed instrument in order to play notes below the ordinary range of the instrument or to produce an usual tone color.






27. The raising and lowering a pitch of an instrument to produce the correct tone of a note.






28. A repeating phrase that is played at the end of each verse in the song.






29. A period in history during the 18th and early 19th centuries where the focus shifted from the neoclassical style to an emotional - expressive - and imaginative style.






30. Movement or passage that concludes the musical composition.






31. Arranging a piece of music for an orchestra. Also - the study of music.






32. A set of six musicians who perform a composition written for six parts.






33. Atonal and violent style used as a means of evoking heightened emotions and states of mind.






34. Written for 2 to 10 solo parts featuring one instrument to a part. Each part bears the same importance.






35. The seventh note of the scale where there is a strong desire to resolve on the tonic.






36. Group of singers in a chorus.






37. 3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony.






38. The seventh note of the scale where there is a strong desire to resolve on the tonic.






39. A direction in sheet music indicating the tempo is to be very fast.






40. First developed in the 8th century - methods of writing music.






41. A chord comprised of three whole tones resulting in an augmented fourth or diminished fifth.






42. Pertaining to the sonata form - a fast movement in triple time.






43. A contrapuntal song written for at least three voices - usually without accompaniment.






44. Originally an improvised cadence by a soloist. Later it became a written out passage to display performance skills of an instrumentalist or performer.






45. The highest female voice.






46. Two or three melodic lines played at the same time.






47. A loose collection of instrumental compositions.






48. Short detached notes - as opposed to legato.






49. Initially an improvised cadence by a soloist; later becoming an elaborate and written out passage in an aria or concerto - featuring the skills of an instrumentalist or vocalist.






50. Male singers who were castrated to preserve their alto and soprano vocal range.